More drugs to fight high cholesterol are emerging

Patients have options beyond statins, and other alternatives are on the horizon

- Betsy McKay

Biotech Amgen has been doing testing to expand use of its PCSK9 drug Repatha to more patients.

A statin isn't the only answer anymore to lowering cholesterol.

The lipid-reducing medicines, among the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S., have been a mainstay of heart-disease prevention and treatment for decades. But they don't work for everyone, and can only reduce harmful "bad" cholesterol so much.

Now some patients have other cholesterol-busting medicines available as options-and even more alternatives are on the horizon.

Certain patients already can take a twice-yearly injection, sold by Novartis as Leqvio, that uses an RNA-based technology, or a more frequent injection that targets a protein called PCSK9 that interferes with the body's ability to clear the bad form of cholesterol.

Biotech Amgen has been doing testing to expand use of its PCSK9 drug Repatha to more patients, while Merck is developing an easier-to-take pill version. Biotechs are working on therapies that use gene-editing technology to lower people's cholesterol, perhaps permanently.

Researchers presented the latest study results this weekend at the American Heart Association's annual meeting.

"This is an amazing time, a very, very exciting time for patients," said Dr. Leslie Cho, cardiologist and director of the Cleveland Clinic Women's Cardiovascular Center, who wasn't involved in the latest studies. She cautioned, however, that most patients can be helped by diet, exercise and statins, and some of the newer therapies can be very expensive.

In a late-stage study, Merck's PCSK9 pill reduced bad, or LDL, cholesterol up to 60% over six months in adults with or at risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, researchers reported.